A movie that people are raving about is director Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass.  I spoke to a few people that saw a test screening last week at the Arclight in Hollywood and they weren’t just raving about the movie…they were practically losing their minds over the film.  If their reaction is any indication of how good the movie is, Lionsgate is going to be very happy they bought the film for domestic distribution.

Anyway, the first trailer has been released and it’s decent.  The thing about Kick-Ass is it’s very violent and very R rated.  It’s just hard to sell how cool this film is when you have to work in a PG  environment.  Saying that, I’d imagine as the release gets closer, we’re going to get a red band trailer or something that lets people know this is not a kids superhero movie.  Either way, the trailer is worth checking out.  Take a look after the jump:

Posters which need to be grouped together to achieve their full effect kind of bug me.  Look at these, the first four posters to promote Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass”, arguably the biggest breakout of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.  I’m glad that the marketing campaign for the film has begun but will theaters devote this kind of space to four posters which leave out the actor’s names in favor of the character and their alter-ego?  I hope so because this movie needs to be on folks’ radar and I’m not sure if a poster saying “Mindy Macready Is Hit-Girl” with a purple-haired gal standing in front of “-A” will turn heads.  On second though, it might.  Just forget everything I said.  However, if you do see all four posters together in a theater and they’re out of order, please send us a photo.

Check out all four posters after the jump.  “Kick-Ass” is slated to hit theaters on April 16, 2010. [UPDATE: The official website is now online.  You'll see at the bottom  of the site that the trailer is set to debut online next Sunday at midnight.]

Principal Photography began today on Matt Reeves’ “Let Me In”, the remake of Tomas Alfredson’s acclaimed film, “Let the Right One In” which was an adaptation of the John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel of the same name.  It’s difficult to find a fan of Alfredson’s film who is excited for this remake since the Swedish landscape is such an integral part of the film’s tone and overarching themes.  Couple that with the tendency of American films to avoid ambiguity and relationships which may make audiences uncomfortable and you can see why the reception of its production is (appropriately) chilly.

But actors Elias Koteas (”Zodiac”), Cara Buono (”The Sopranos”), and Sasha Barrese (”The Hangover”) are giving the film a chance and joining stars Kodi-Smit McPhee (”The Road”), Chloe Moretz (”Kick-Ass”) and Richard Jenkins (”The Visitor”).  Hit the jump for more details.

The official cast for director Matt Reeves (”Cloverfield”) American remake of “Let the Right One in” was announced today and it’s Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz and Richard Jenkins. Kodi will be playing Owen (Oskar), Chloe will be Abby (Eli), and Richard Jenkins will play the lead adult character known as Hakan in the original film. More after the jump:

Based on the director’s own experiences, “The Poker House” chronicles a day in the life of three sisters in small-town Iowa. The protagonist is Agnes, who is meant to be first-time director Lori Petty. She is fourteen years old but, as she states, “nobody’d believe it.” As the oldest of three sisters living with their drug-addicted, prostitute mother, she takes the place as the head of the family. The father is out of the picture and replaced by the mother’s pimp, who crosses the line in his relationship with Agnes.  The other two sisters, Bee and Cammie, have also been forced to grow up too fast. Bee holds a job delivering papers and Cammie escapes to a friend’s house where she has a safe place to sleep and food to eat. The film is dark and gritty, portraying children living in a downtrodden environment with a mother too gone to care. It’s more than just poverty that is the problem; there’s also the absence of parental love. Petty gives the audience a glimpse into her rather tragic childhood. However, the fact that she wrote and directed the film, which was part of the Los Angeles Film Festival, offers some positive light on a very humbling story. My full review after the jump:

If you were in Hall H at this year’s Comic-Con, one of the films that made a huge impact was director Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass”. While the film doesn’t yet have an American distributor, if the reaction to the footage is any indication, studios should bang down the doors to land the rights to this independent comic book movie. If the name “Kick-Ass” sounds familiar, it’s because the movie is based on the Mark Millar/John Romita, Jr. series with the same name.

Anyway, I was able to interview Chloe Moretz at this year’s Comic-Con and she talked about playing Hit Girl, working with Nicolas Cage, filming the action scenes, and if you watch till the end, you might see a surprise appearance by Clark Duke and Kristen Bell. Take a look after the jump:

MTV’s Splash Page has landed the first photo of Christopher Mintz-Plasse as superhero sidekick “Red Mist” in Matthew Vaughn’s upcoming adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic series, “Kick-Ass”.  In keeping with what I assume is the makeshift style of costumes for those that choose to be superheroes rather than having any special abilities, Red Mist looks like he wanted something that screams “Leather Daddy” and he got it.  I kind of hope they have some footage soon because this is the problem with individual stills: they lack context and are subject to easy mockery and even easier dismissal.

Hit the jump to see the full photo and find out when and where you’ll be able to finally see footage from this noise.

With only twenty one days remaining till this year’s Comic-Con, news is slowly starting to leak out about what this year’s attendees can see.  Hopefully, the official website will release a full schedule immediately so folks can know which lines to stand in for most of the day.

While we don’t know what line you’ll have to stand in for Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass” (Hall H?  Certainly one of the larger ballrooms, at least), we know that you’ll have to carve out a block of time near the end of the day on Thursday, July 23rd if you want to see his adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, and Nicolas Cage.  Vaughn will be showing off footage from the upcoming film although there’s no official word yet if any of the stars will be attending as well.  Personally, I’m happy with just Vaughn as he grabbed my attention with “Layer Cake” and then created an underseen gem with “Stardust”.  The story follows a normal 16-year-old who decides to become a super-hero despite having no training or special powers.  While I’ve never made secret of my disdain for Mark Millar’s work and his self-promotion disproportionate to his talent, I have confidence that Vaughn and co-screenwriter Jane Goodman can turn his comic into something pretty spectacular.

Hit the jump for a few images from the film. [via /Film]